Rutgers Just Says No

Rutgers University will not be growing marijuana. Or, at any rate, it will not be growing marijuana on a large scale with the official sanction of the state of New Jersey. According to an article by Susan Livio at NewJersery.com:

Gov. Chris Christie’s strategy to implement New Jersey’s controversial medical marijuana law was dealt a setback Friday when Rutgers University said it will not become the state’s sole grower of the drug.

Christie was counting on Rutgers to grow the pot and allow a number of teaching hospitals to sell it.

New Jersey passed a medical marijuana law in January but Governor Christie, a Republican, supported a plan to have all medical marijuana in the state centrally grown by New Jersey’s flagship university. He believed that would help reduce the “security and safety threat” posed by marijuana.

Rutgers declined to be the whole state’s supplier out of fear it would lose federal grant money through the deal. While the university seriously considered growing pot for the state, the school’s lawyers explained that because the federal government still classifies marijuana as controlled substance a marijuana project could put numerous federal grants in jeopardy.